The inducibility of Turán graphs

Abstract

Let $I(F,n)$ denote the maximum number of induced copies of a graph $F$ in an $n$-vertex graph. The inducibility of $F$, defined as $i(F)=\lim_{n\to \infty} I(F,n)/\binom{n}{v(F)}$, is a central problem in extremal graph theory. In this work, we investigate the inducibility of Turán graphs $F$. This topic has been extensively studied in the literature, including works of Pippenger--Golumbic, Brown--Sidorenko, Bollobás--Egawa--Harris--Jin, Mubayi, Reiher, and the first author, and Yuster. Broadly speaking, these results resolve or asymptotically resolve the problem when the part sizes of $F$ are either sufficiently large or sufficiently small (at most four). We complete this picture by proving that for every Turán graph $F$ and sufficiently large $n$, the value $I(F,n)$ is attained uniquely by the $m$-partite Turán graph on $n$ vertices, where $m$ is given explicitly in terms of the number of parts and vertices of $F$. This confirms a conjecture of Bollobás--Egawa--Harris--Jin from 1995, and we also establish the corresponding stability theorem. Moreover, we prove an asymptotic analogue for $I_{k+1}(F,n)$, the maximum number of induced copies of $F$ in an $n$-vertex $K_{k+1}$-free graph, thereby completely resolving a recent problem of Yuster. Finally, our results extend to a broader class of complete multipartite graphs in which the largest and smallest part sizes differ by at most on the order of the square root of the smallest part size.